Tag: pelosi

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 3 Minutes

  • The U.S. reported 30,431 new cases and 1,021 additional deaths.
  • Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning Americans that the United States already has an “unacceptably high” level of coronavirus cases going into the fall, when public health experts worry the flu could exacerbate deaths, and is pleading with citizens to be careful this Labor Day weekend not to spread the virus even more.
  • Treating critically ill COVID-19 patients with corticosteroid drugs reduces the risk of death by 20%, an analysis of seven international trials found on Wednesday, prompting the World Health Organisation to update its advice on treatment.
  • Skip kissing and consider wearing a mask when having sex to protect yourself from catching the coronavirus, Canada’s chief medical officer said on Wednesday, adding that going solo remains the lowest risk sexual option in a pandemic.
  • The National Institutes of Health announced a $129.3 million initiative to immediately scale up the manufacturing of rapid tests and widen the network of high throughput labs.

The NIH said this should significantly increase the number and type of tests by millions per week.

  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) expressed doubt over whether the Democrats, Republicans, and the White House can strike a deal to pass another major coronavirus relief package before the election.
  • U.S. private employers hired fewer workers than expected for a second straight month in August, suggesting that the labor market recovery was slowing as the COVID-19 pandemic persists and government money to support workers and employers dries up.
  • Republicans criticized House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi for going to a hair salon in San Francisco in an apparent violation of the city’s coronavirus pandemic regulations, but the Democratic leader said she had been told by the salon the appointment was allowed.

Pelosi briefly addressed the issue to reporters saying, “I take responsibility for falling for a set-up.”

  • AMC said that 70% of its theaters – 420 total –  will be open by this weekend.
  • James Madison University will transition to online learning for the month of September following a notable uptick in coronavirus cases at the school. 
  • Miami University in Ohio reported at least 249 cases of Covid-19 among students at the start of this week, an increase of more than 100% from the previous week.
  • Los Angeles County health officials announced that K-12 students with Individualized education plans, those requiring English as a second language instruction, and others needing assessments or specialized in-school services can return to campuses for in-person learning starting on Sept. 14.
  • Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver passed away due to complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19 at the age of 75.
  • A Minnesota biker who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has died of covid-19 — the first fatality from the virus traced to the 10-day event that drew more than 400,000 to South Dakota.
  • Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson tested positive for Covid-19, along with his wife and young children, the actor and former professional wrestler announced Wednesday in an Instagram video.

“I can tell you that this is one of the most challenging and difficult things we have ever had to endure as a family,” Johnson said.

  • Iowa State University reversed course Wednesday and announced spectators will no longer be allowed to attend the Cyclones football home opener on Sept. 12.
  • Nine of the 11 regions Illinois is divided into for the state’s Covid-19 response have seen an increase in positivity rates in the last two weeks.
  • Iowa has the highest rate of Covid-19 cases in the U.S.
  • Los Angeles County health officials announced that hair salons and barber shops are allowed to reopen for limited indoor operations.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Forbes,  Fox News,The Hill, Independent, MSNBC, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

In The Past 24 Hours Or So

Your Daily Dose of Trump and His Administration News

11/18

  • Gordon Sondland, President Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, reportedly kept top officials in the Trump administration updated on efforts to persuade Ukraine to launch an investigation into former Vice President Biden ahead of Trump’s much-publicized July call with the country’s president. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Sondland updated officials, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, via email on the results of his efforts, which have become the center of House’s impeachment inquiry.
  • Jennifer Williams, Special adviser to Vice President Pence, who was listening in on the July 25 phone call, told House impeachment investigators that Trump’s request that Ukraine open a Biden probe was “unusual and inappropriate.”
  • Trump claims that a China Phase 1 trade deal is very close.  The Chinese keep insisting that a deal is far away.
  • In September, President Trump said he was moving to ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes as vaping among young people continued to rise. But two months later, under pressure from his political advisers and lobbyists to factor in the potential pushback from his supporters, Mr. Trump has resisted moving forward with any action on vaping, while saying he still wants to study the issue.
  • In reply to Speaker Pelosi’s call for the President to testify in the impeachment hearings, Trump Tweeted : “Nervous Nancy Pelosi…suggested on Sunday’s DEFACE THE NATION I testify about the phony Impeachment Witch Hunt. She also said I could do it in writing. Even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax, I like the idea & will, in order to get Congress focused again, strongly consider it!”
  • The House of Representatives is now investigating whether President Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller in written answers he provided in the Russia investigation, the House’s general counsel said in federal court Monday.
  • Reversing decades of US policy on West Bank, the Trump administration will stop treating Israel’s West Bank settlements as a violation of international law, a step that may doom peace efforts with Palestinians.
  • The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a ruling that requires an accounting firm to turn over President Donald Trump’s taxes taxes to Congress. Trump has refused to show his tax returns since announcing his run for president in 2015, although those documents are customarily made public by presidential candidates. The president has asked the Supreme Court to keep his tax returns shielded from congressional investigators and prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
  • Staff members for Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D -Oregon), the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, met with an IRS whistleblower earlier this month regarding the whistleblower’s allegations that at least one political appointee at the Treasury Department may have tried to interfere with an audit of President Trump or Vice President Pence, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, a sign that lawmakers are moving to investigate the complaint lodged by a senior staffer at the Internal Revenue Service.
  • Mina Chang, a high-ranking State Department staffer who inflated her resume, has resigned from her position. Chang, the deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, was accused of overstating her academic credentials.
  • Congressional aides working on the impeachment inquiry announce that David Holmes, the man who overheard the Sondland/Trump phone call, will testify alongside Fiona Hill on Thursday.
  • U.S. State Department officials were informed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was feeling pressure from the Trump administration to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden even before the July phone call that has led to impeachment hearings in Washington, two people with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press. In early May, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, including then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, were told Zelenskiy was seeking advice on how to navigate the difficult position he was in.
  • According to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Amazon will pay nothing in federal income taxes for the second year in a row. Thanks to the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Amazon’s federal tax responsibility is 21% (down from 35% in previous years). But with the help of tax breaks, according to corporate filings, Amazon won’t be paying any taxes despite posting more than $11.2 billion in profits in 2018.